'We don’t have to pretend anymore': Greens ready to bail on D.C. Environmentalists and many of their Democratic allies are preparing to focus on state capitals as the places to press for action on climate change — going back to a strategy they employed during the Trump era. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/30/greens-readying-to-bail-on-d-c-00043591
That's not exactly a bad idea as to make real change you have to win at every level. If Greens are willing to invest a lot of time and energy on winning state houses that will likely translate to races at the top of the ticket too.
I really appreciate this, thank you! I very rarely get actual policy from Republicans, and I didn't know this existed. I enjoyed reading it, though I do think it's funny how many digs at Biden they try to get in on these documents. I do have a few thoughts, because I really do love talking policy! I tend to learn from it too, which is great, I'd love someone with more Conservative policy knowledge to respond to some of these Point 1 is about taking unused Covid relief money and using it to fight inflation. In theory, not a bad idea! But it doesn't really mention how we can use that to fight inflation, I would like to hear that. Point 2 says Joe Biden is actively trying to raise taxes, I tried to dig to see what they are talking about and I think they mean with his Build Back Better plan? The most recent version of it would raise taxes on top earners, but decrease them on lower earners. This feels a bit like a generic Republican talking point (Dems want to raise taxes!) more than combatting something actually happening, but maybe its just me. But even though I'm not sure this is "solving" for something specially with BBB shelved, I'll give that I understand the point of "No tax hikes during inflation", that seems like a point that should be on a Republican/conservative plan Point 3 is about trade, and I fully agree! This is a great point, while a lot of the trade wars we have were started by Trump (and I think that partially led to where we are now), Biden has continued way too many of them and it's one of my biggest criticisms. Would love to see Republicans move away from protectionism and be more pro-free trade, so if this point implies they are doing that, then great! If they do push for us to remove tariffs and open back up trade more if they win the House and Senate that's a win for fighting inflation Point 4 actually annoys me a lot. It just says we should "unleash American Energy". How? This is way too vague. The Biden admin has actually approved more drilling permits than the Trump admin. He just yesterday offered more options for drilling in the gulf of Mexico. I've actually seen a lot of criticism from the left on this, so he's essentially doing this to help gas prices even though his own party hates it. That being said I'm sure maybe there's even more oil friendly, environment unfriendly policies we can do to help alleviate gas prices, but this point is ridiculously vague and doesn't suggest anything for that, so I'm not hearing it from here. I have heard more specific criticisms from friends in Oil and Gas, maybe Republicans should go talk to their donors from there so they can include more specific criticisms and plans? Point 5 is interesting, but yet again, ridiculously vague! I think it's saying we should have less regulations on things? This is not a binary issue where there's just an overall "more regulation" or "less regulation" choice, you have to specify what regulations. Are we talking Food and Drug safety? Are we talking occupational licensing? Permits? Health regulations? I'd love to get some clarification here. Fun fact- the New Democrats in the House recently released an inflation plan and they actually suggest cutting down on Occupational Licensing requirements which I'm a huge fan of. If that's part of the regulations here, then this could be a good point, but the point is kept very vague so I honestly don't know if Republicans support it or not. If this point is just blanket cut consumer protections, then I'd have a problem, but again, its vague! Point 6 is interesting at least. I've benefited from the current, worker friendly environment personally so there's some bias, but we should look at increasing our workforce to fill more positions. I just wish it had an actual policy suggestion here to do that, the only one it suggests is allowing Seniors to stay in the work force without harming their benefits which I think I'd agree with but it's far from a solution to this problem. If point 5 is talking about occupational licensing then that's a real thing that could fix it. I linked below a list of some Democrat plans and it actually suggests a lot of solutions to this. Also, if you have labor shortages, increasing legal immigration is a great way to fix that, which is something Republicans seem really opposed to, but I'll also admit that I think Biden has been weak on that too and hasn't opened up work Visas near as much as he should. I know a lot of this is criticisms, and I don't think it's undeserved because a lot of these plans are very vague, but I appreciate you sharing this with me and it's good to know that they do actually have some written out plans! That being said, for comparison, I referenced above a House Democrat plan for inflation, here's a link- https://newdemocratcoalition.house.gov/imo/media/doc/New Dem Inflation Action Plan.pdf The red section are things that Biden has done, the blue section is further suggestions to help further. It includes specific already written house bills to enact the goals mentioned with direct links to those bills to read. Funny enough, it actually presents real plans for Points 3 and 6 from that Republican plan, both of which are very vague in the Republican plan. But that's common ground! Republicans currently in the House should try to actively work with Democrats on those, hope they do! But anyways, I'd love to see them release something more defined like this that points to more specific policy to make fixes, rather than releasing incredibly vague plans. Maybe if we discussed policy more often, we'd actually see government working better. That Democrat plan above introduces some actual bills that could help complete some of those Republican policy goals so there's some real chance for bipartisanship! But I'd be surprised if House Dems and House Republicans have had meaningful policy talks. Getting that started would go a long way towards fixing the government to be more useful for Americans
When we "unleashed American energy" under Trump it resulted in a supply glut and historic capital mismangement. Layoffs and bankruptcies started pre Covid in 2019.
Man I wish we had an oil supply glut right now. I am paying over six bucks a gallon. It was under four bucks a gallon a couple years ago. Thats more than a 50% increase in two years.
Unfortunately we blew our wad with "drill baby drill" deregulation. The fact of the matter is the Shale Boom wasn't very profitable or sustainable at those lower prices we all enjoyed and it's pretty tough for private companies (talking about ownership) to compete directly with nationalized oil companies long term. Essentially OPEC+ flooded the market and crushed the Shale companies under Trump. Due to the historic capital mismanagement, they are only going to ramp up slowly. Also they have plenty of land and sea to drill on, but are choosing to do so in a more controlled fashion. Not to mention, they also have severe labor shortages and supply issues because of the major bust.
All kinds of records broken, but not the good kind https://www.fox26houston.com/news/a...onth-as-new-used-car-prices-continue-to-climb https://www.ft.com/content/abb8a9f6-e57f-4a54-bb17-14a2c489831f
Significantly fewer Americans say US system of government is sound: poll https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...ns-say-us-system-of-government-is-sound-poll/ excerpt: more at the link
America needs to calm down Apocalyptic alarmism is rife on the Left and Right https://unherd.com/2022/07/america-needs-to-calm-down/ excerpt: Wherever you look someone is sounding the alarm about how America has been taken over by evil extremists and is going to hell in a handbasket. This sort of talk used to be confined to the fringes: you’d actually have to go looking for it in some ramshackle bookstore or on a street corner patrolled by a badly-dressed proselytiser. Now, the merchant of doom comes to you in the guise of an attention-seeking journalist, credentialed expert or pampered politician. These new school paranoiacs divide into two camps: a progressive one and an anti-progressive one. While diametrically opposed politically, they nonetheless share the same conviction that the sin of their enemies is everywhere and must be vanquished to save the soul of America. And, like all moral panic entrepreneurs throughout history, their deepest concern centres on the purity of young people, who they claim are being “groomed” into demonic tribes, whether of the Left or Right. The liberal version of apocalyptic alarmism is by now all too familiar: the broad gist of it is that Donald Trump is a tyrant who has unleashed the atavistic and peculiarly American impulses of white rage that will inevitably lead the country to civil war and ruin — unless he and his base are repelled by the valiant Democrats. In his bestselling book On Tyranny, published just after the 2016 election, Yale historian Timothy Snyder sternly warned that America could descend into fascism under Trump. By the time Trump had all but completed his first term in office and was seeking another, the liberal prophets of doom had gone into overdrive. “I can’t say this more clearly,” Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times in late September 2020. “Our democracy is in terrible danger…” The events of 6 January served to confirm their darkest warnings: it was an attempted coup! It didn’t matter that most of those who broke into the Capitol had not the slightest idea what they were going to do once they got inside the building, or that the only lethal shot fired during the whole ludicrous debacle was at a Trump supporter, or that there was zero chance that Trump would be violently returned to power. It didn’t matter that Trump, despite new testimony that he wanted to join the protesters in marching toward the Capitol, had scurried back to the White House, where he returned to his usual state of lethargy, or that one of the defining traits of his presidency was ineptitude. None of that mattered, because it complicated the preordained narrative: Trump and his supporters are an existential threat to the republic. Once Biden moved into the White House you would have thought that the apocalyptic fantasy surrounding Trump would have eased up a bit. It didn’t, and the crack-pipe of progressive paranoia soon flared up again. In May last year Slate published a piece on how “Trump Is Planning a Much More Respectable Coup Next Time”. But the crack-pipe was at its hottest in the editorial traphouse of The Atlantic, which ran a cover-story in January proclaiming that “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun”. More recently, the US Supreme Court’s decision to revoke Roe v. Wade has served to refocus progressive premonitions of doom. The Guardian reported that the revocation of the 1973 ruling, which enshrined Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, “could drive the biggest wedge yet between what appear to be two irreconcilable nations coexisting under one flag”. “Some wonder if the country’s social fabric, frayed by four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, can survive.” A persistent thread in much of this alarmism is a deep preoccupation with children and their “safety”. The concern is not so much that children, or indeed their children, will grow up under tyranny, a “terrifyingly real” prospect according to Snyder. The fear, rather, is that children might become the tyrants: they are in danger of being “groomed” into fascist little monsters, whether it be through video games, Instagram or even online fitness groups. And if you don’t treat extremism like it’s a virus and inoculate your kids against it, then you’re part of the problem. On the other side are the equally shrill and hyperbolic anti-progressives, who think the Democrats and their supporters are trying to stage a socialist coup by stealth and that anything but Republican rule will spell disaster for the country. more at the link
Trumpism -- which literally entails throwing away election results to keep him in power -- is an existential threat to our Republic. And, yes, one should be alarmed by the fact that close to half the country supports it.
Oil prices are showing a steep decline while other economic numbers are strong. There is a lot of handwringing and alarm among many but the economic situation isn't as dire as many claim and is showing signs of improving. To the Left there has been a series of devastating blows out of courts and actions at the state but the Biden Admin. is taking steps to address those. At the sametime we are seeing new projects and programs improving transportation, infrastructure and addressing climate change coming out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. On the international front the worst fears of Ukraine being overrun and Russia at the Polish border never materialized. With US and NATO help Ukraine is still holding. NATO is more united than ever and growing. There are a lot of things still going the wrong direction but Biden's America isn't in bad shape. Like most things this is a matter of perception and overinflated expectations.
I dont expect Dem voters to turn out though. Hell, I doubt most voters understand that a President cant overturn a Supreme Court case. We probably end up with a razor thin majority for either party in the House, and a GOP Senate. Its gridlock time baby!
Also to add for the first time in decades we have a new gun control law. It's not nearly enough but it's something. Biden so far in less than two years has gotten more done legislatively than Trump did in 4.
That is very possible and we'll see what's happening. I'm just giving some perspective that contrary to all the gloom and doom things there are things that are going right. The Biden Presidency has a long way to go to be called a "successful" Presidency. There's still a lot that needs to be done and there has been several self-inflicted wounds. It's not the failure though that many on the Right and Left are making it out to be though.
Oh for sure. Theres a reason why historians usually wait before judging a term/administration. Biden was basically a band-aid. I suspect tho the DNC is going to turn sharply Left and in 2024 we'll have a President DeSantis or possibly another name we dont know yet; and it will be a repeat of Nixon
Basically, I use a few people Ive met before who arent political/news junkies but think/act like theyre in the know. For reference its usually: - middle class suburban moms - blue collar white men - older black men with military experience - hyper leftists in their 30s/40s who dont have kids. I can tell you from personal experience that all 4 of these groups are likely either not voting or voting GOP in the midterms. The latter is a recent category Ive added since hanging out with the increasingly aging/belligerent remnants of the punk scene here (ask me about the dominatrix who threw a drink on me)
I think Biden administration is not very competent, still better than the Trump option, but they need to be doing a much better job. Here is one example. Now they are backing Germany getting Russian natural gas after telling them to ban Russian natural gas. https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-backs-canadian-move-help-130408204.html
